UN Confirms Destruction of Famed Syrian Temple
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Satellite images confirm the destruction of Syria's Bel Temple in the ancient city of Palmyra, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
"We can confirm destruction of the main building of the Temple of Bel as well as a row of columns in its immediate vicinity," the UN training and research agency UNITAR said, providing satellite images from before and after a powerful blast in the ruins of the ancient city on Sunday, Yahoo News reported.
The UN imagery contradicted earlier reports that said that an attempt by the ISIL Takfiri group to blow up the famed Temple of Bel had rocked the ancient ruins, but that the site appeared to be largely intact.
However, UNITAR said its satellite program put to rest any doubts that the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel had been destroyed in the blast.
A shot taken on August 27 clearly shows an erect, rectangular structure surrounded by columns, while a shot taken on Monday showed there was little left besides a few columns in the very outer edges of the site.
ISIL already destroyed the smaller Baalshamin temple at Palmyra last week, confirming the worst fears about their intentions for the site, which they seized from Syrian troops in May.
UNITAR on Friday also presented satellite images confirming the destruction of the Baalshamin temple, which the UN's cultural agency UNESCO called a "war crime".
ISIL has carried out a sustained campaign of destruction against heritage sites in the Arab country, and in mid-August beheaded the 82-year-old former antiquities chief in Palmyra.
Known as the "Pearl of the Desert", Palmyra, which means City of Palms, lies 210 kilometres northeast of Damascus.
Before the Syrian conflict erupted 2011, more than 150,000 tourists visited Palmyra every year.
Construction on the temple began in 32 BC and ended in the second century, and it later served as both a church and a mosque.
